Overview
The Yuange Puppet (元歌傀儡, Yuángē Kuǐlěi) is the main-story boss of Chapter 4 in Honor of Kings: World's S0 season, set in Guqiu City during the "古丘城试炼" (Guqiu City Trial) chapter. It is a two-phase fight that teaches red-light counter and form-switch combat, and it is the first boss that forces the player to hot-swap between equipped Resonances mid-combat. The encounter was originally shown in HoKW's pre-launch 6-minute gameplay demo and was built out for the April 10, 2026 launch.
Fight Structure
Per GamerSky's text walkthrough, the Yuange Puppet fight has exactly two phases with two full HP bars: "此战斗分为两个阶段，BOSS有完整的两个血条" ("This fight is divided into two phases, and the boss has two complete HP bars"). Between phases the boss disappears and the player is led into a new arena. There is no third phase.
Phase 1: Solo Red-Flash Counter Tutorial
Phase 1 is a 1v1 teaching fight centered on red-flash attack counterplay. The boss telegraphs red-flash attacks that the player must counter with a stagger (昏厥) skill, earned through the perfect-dodge → enhanced light attack combo. Continuing to damage the boss during the stagger window triggers a second stagger with bonus damage. After the stagger pass, the boss summons a wave of adds, and the walkthrough explicitly instructs the player to switch to the Xi Shi Resonance with Tab and use her E-then-Q combo to group-and-clear them. A second red-flash attack is countered with the T-key ultimate (绝技), completing the Phase 1 mechanic training.
Phase 2: Puppet Theater
Phase 2 is where the fight earns its "puppet theater" framing. The verified mechanics are:
Phantom puppets (幻影傀儡) — spawned companions that attack alongside the boss. They rise into the air, then divebomb the player's position. A perfect dodge plus enhanced attack launches the player into the air to strike the boss directly.
Puppet-string dive attacks (傀儡线) — the boss is hoisted into the air by strings for rapid dive attacks. The second dive is often a red-flash, requiring another red-light counter.
Purple-light projectile (紫光) — a telegraphed ranged attack.
Xi Shi transformation (变身成西施) — the boss transforms into Xi Shi and uses her Resonance abilities: an orb pull and a lotus-explosion AoE that culminates in a giant lotus massive-damage attack. Players must dodge the orb pull and exit the lotus AoE.
Add-wave punctuation — after a round of dodge-and-transform mechanics, adds spawn again and the player tabs to Xi Shi to clear them.
Purple carpet floor hazard — a floor-wide purple zone marks the kill area. Players simply walk out of the marked zone; the reaction window is deliberately long.
Depleting Phase 2's HP bar auto-plays a cutscene that closes out the Guqiu City Trial quest. Specific XP and gear values are not documented in the launch-window text walkthrough.
Lore: The Puppet IS the Director
The Yuange Puppet is not Yuange himself. Per Tencent's official developer diary on world.qq.com, the Yuange Puppet is "元歌最特殊的傀儡造物" ("Yuange's most special puppet creation"), a 具有生命的傀儡 ("a living puppet") that Yuange built and left behind in Jixia as a gift before disappearing. The diary frames the entire boss fight as a 偶戏 (puppet-show performance) that the Puppet itself directs, with the player invited as both challenger and "guest actor." The quote: "元歌傀儡不仅是本次偶戏的导演设计了这场表演，同时也是元歌留给稷下的礼物。那我们的元歌到底去哪里了？具体情节就等玩家自己去挖掘啦" ("The Yuange Puppet is not only the director who designed this performance, it is also Yuange's gift to Jixia. As for where our Yuange has actually gone, the specific plot is for players to dig up themselves").
Design terminology from the developer diary: the large central puppet is the 主舞 (main dancer), the smaller puppets are 副舞 (supporting dancers), and the small puppets are 半成品 ("half-finished works") from Yuange's research into mechanism arts. The small puppets come in three functional types: 近战傀儡 (melee), 远攻傀儡 (ranged), and 自爆傀儡 (self-destruct), used in a 傀儡狂潮 ("puppet tide") assault wave. The Phase 2 transformation into Xi Shi forms is explicitly confirmed by the diary, and the kit borrows from each transformed hero's HoKW 淬炼 (Cuilian) combat abilities. For Yuange himself, see Yuange.
Sources
GamerSky text walkthrough page 2 (full two-phase fight): https://www.gamersky.com/handbook/202604/2122122_2.shtml
Tencent developer diary on Yuange Puppet: https://world.qq.com/gicp/news/1045/18347687.html
Ali213 chapter index (Chapter 4 Guqiu City Trial): https://m.ali213.net/news/gl2604/1762151.html